Report: Raiders close in on stadium deal in Oakland

So much for San Antonio and Los Angeles. The Raiders could be on the verge of striking a deal to stay put in Oakland.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the team and the city have reached a tentative agreement on the construction of a new home for the Silver and Black.

“I expect it to be executed soon,” attorney Zach Wassrman said. Wasserman represents the developers of Coliseum City, a sports, housing and retail complex that would be constructed near the new venue.

The Chronicle characterizes Raiders owner Mark Davis as having final say over whether the arrangement will proceed.

The stadium would be built with funds generated by the Coliseum City project, resulting in a reduced (and possibly non-existent) financial obligation for taxpayers. However, the public would be on the hook for the $120 million still owed as a result of the O.Co Coliseum expansion that brought the Raiders back to town more than a generation ago.

So where does the $120 million come from?

“That’s a great question that we will probably not say anything about,” a spokesman for Oakland mayor Jean Quan told the Chronicle.

Land also would be transferred from the city at no charge, but the new stadium — expected to cost between $900 million and $1.2 billion — would be paid for separately.

It’s unclear how this arrangement would affect the A’s, who recently signed a 10-year lease to play at a place that will be blown up, sir if/when the deal goes through.

So this one is far from being resolved. But at least it shows that progress has been made to keep the Raiders from leaving town, again.

Thank god. The NFL is by far the highest grossing sport in this country and competes with the rest of the world and soccer. The fact that ANY team is still sharing a stadium with a baseball team is laughable. Thought you guys were suppose to spread the wealth? Yet we have to see the infield at Raiders game year in and year out. ABOUT TIME!

I would leave Oakland if another city was willing to build a stadium. The city is embarrassing. It is run down and crime riddled. Its reputation is awful inside and outside of the state. Beyond that, I am sure there are states with better tax structures for both businesses and individuals that have cities that look cleaner and have less of a crime problem.

So free land and $120 million that the mayor refuses to explain where it will come from? More welfare for billionaires and sucking resources from a poor city that needs all the help it can get. I’m sure they’ll probably take the money from repairing infrastructure and education – who needs that crap when there’s a football team to pay for?

Excellent news IF this results in a finalized deal. The vast majority of the Raiders’ glory period was in Oakland and that’s where they built the Silver & Black mystique (16 straight winning seasons from 1965 to 1980). Al Davis’ biggest mistake was moving the team out of Oakland in the first place.

And I hope that this cancels any notion of them going back to Los Angeles. The Raiders became a Hollywood/glitter team in that city and lost their blue-collar edge (yet to be recaptured on a long-term basis). And when they stopped being dominant after 1985, the L.A. Coliseum was typically half-empty. There’s a very valid reason why no other NFL team has chosen to locate there over the last 20 years.

Another boneheaded move by Mark Davis.The revenue they could of generated by moving to LA would triple what he would make in Oakland.The Raiders once again look like fools and will still remain an afterthought in the Bay Area.

I think $120m is a small price to pay. The Bay Area is so gentrified right now and Oakland’s level of development is so far behind. The state has so much in coming money, the city needs to do something to draw investors.

Oakland needs to show that they are interested in developing. Lets face it, stop listening to the people that don’t contribute to the city. You want lower crime rate? Let the city gentrify.

It’s the right place for the Raiders. I know The big market of LA is alluring, but it’s fools gold. Once a new stadium is built there it’s going to eventually be a two team market again. After the little honeymoon period LA will reveal herself as a city that doesn’t really like pro football.. IMHO.

California’s state government would make Stalin blush. Anyone who thinks a stadium can get built on time and budget is delusional – optimistic, but delusional. Double the price and construction time, and hope that there’s no endangered woodlouse or something to halt the project entirely.
I’ll believe it when I see it.

Everyone complaining about the $120 million didnt read the article fully or worse didnt understand. The $120 million was borrowed and used in 1995 to renovate the coliseum when the team came back to Oakland. The city is on the hook for the money even if the team moves

As an Alameda County homeowner, I’m STILL PAYING for Al’s last extortionist move back from LA in taxes. I’m happy the Raiders are staying but this is ridiculous. There’s no word if the multibillionaire Raiders and Davis are putting up a single cent for this lavish palace. I’m with McCain. No more blackouts if a single cent of public money goes towards stadiums. Its not as if the area benefits much anyways. There are worthwhile bars or restaurants in the immediate area. Everyone tailgates and then leaves

So the Davis family is going to foot over 1 billion dollars to keep the team in Oakland, while their out of pocket money if they move the team would be at most half that? Who would invest that kind of money in Oakland? People are delusional if they believe that any owner or business man would do that deal.

We sort of knew this was coming, didn’t we? I mean, we all figured that the visit to San Antonio was just posturing on Mark Davis’ part and that he was only using that city as leverage to get a better deal from Oakland.

In a way, it’s a good thing for San Antonio because it won’t be some guy’s second choice and somewhere down the line, hopefully the city can get a franchise on its own merits and not inherit some crappy team.

As a Patriot fan whose team is hated by Oakland California. I say it’s good news to hear. I sincerely hope the Raiders get a new stadium and stay in Oakland FOREVER. Their fans have earned it and deserve it.

The NFL has a stadium fund that they were willing to pull from if the Raiders moved with the 49ers. The 49ers added PSLs to their season ticket prices to compensate for the loss revenue that the Raiders would have added. No reason the league can’t pull from their Piggy bank to keep the team in Oakland.. To lose the team would economically destroy the city.

I’m raider fan, but I’m giving up the NFL, I’m sick of watching refineries moving teams up and down the field, giving the illusion that there is an athletic event going on, calling penalties when they feel like nut……but as far as using public funds to build a stadium where a non-profit NFL franchise that pays it’s staff in millions that will only use that stadium 8 days out of the year goes, is an outrage and Oakland citizens should be angry at their representatives. Oakland is a big fat ghetto, and I’m sure there are better ways to spend tax payer money then provide a playground for the rich millionaires….

It’s been been a few days since this article was posted, and we have learned a few more things. Raiders officials still went to a football game in San Antonio to experience game day operations and tailgating experience. The funding for this stadium sounds fishy, and the city acts like they are doing the Raiders a favor by paying off a $120 million loan, that the community owes anyway. First word from a Raiders representative about what this article is reporting, is there is “no new deal in Oakland.”

The longer this goes toward the end of the season. The more likely they are not staying in Oakland. The City of Oakland has no real way of preventing this, while a city in Texas keeps buying them drinks and putting them up in the Grand Hyatt.

STUBBLING BLOCK: Closing This Monday, not the City of Oakland but Alameda County is buying up 11 acres of this proposed land for the Coliseum-City Project. The county ISN’T buying to build ballparks or anything like that, but to move their offices there! Anyone have a guess that the City of Oakland didn’t know about this? …or did, but just floated the deal last week to the press to get ahead of this new story.

Similarities of this story sound eerily similar to the Farmer’s Feild proposal in LA. But, the City if Los Angeles decided to expand their convention center in to the 30-acre proposed site.

Same thing happened in a sense. No movement was ever initiated private on the side, where majority of the money was suppose to come from.

I think the rep. from the county said, “The property’s been sitting there. If they were interested in it, they should have bought it. If it was serious, they should have made an offer on it.”